Method of making a building panel



E. F. DRAHOS ET AL 3,540,116

METHOD OF MAKING A BUILDING PANEL Nov. 17, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 7, 1967 mvEiv'ToRs EDWARD F ORA/10.5 MARVIN 0. MERR/TT JOHN A. BOH/VSACK ATTORNEYS United States Patent *Ofice 3,540,116 METHOD OF MAKING A BUILDING PANEL Edward F. Drahos, Philadelphia, Pa., and Marvin D.

Merritt, Streetsboro, and John A. Bohnsack, Lakewood,

Ohio, assignors to The E. F. Hauserman Company,

Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed July 7, 1967, Ser. No. 651,787 Int. Cl. B23p 19/00 U.S. Cl. 29-430 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bonded metallic face interior partition panel having channels at opposite edges formed by the face sheets being bonded and rolled together to form an open folded cam latch flange restricting the channel opening with the edge of one face being within the edge of the other forming such folded flange; and several methods of manufacturing such panel including selective roll and spray coating of the bonding adhesive.

This invention relates generally, as indicated, to a building panel and methods of making the same and more particularly to an improved panel of the type shown in the copending application of John A. Bohnsack, Ser. No. 330,017, filed Dec. 12, 1963, now Pat. No. 3,381,438, entitled Reusable Wall System as well as certain improvements in the method of manufacture of such panel as dis closed in the copending application of Marvin D. Merritt, Ser. No. 330,015, filed Dec. 12, 1963, now Pat. No. 3,344,503, entitled Apparatus and Method for the Manufacture of Building Panels.

In such copending applications, there is disclosed a building interior partition panel and apparatus and method for making the same which has found substantial commercial acceptance as a basic component of the Co-Ordinator Double-Wall interior partition system manufactured by The E. F. Hauserman Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

The basic panel component of the movable wall system comprises an insulating panel sandwiched between metallic face plates bonded thereto and which are formed beyond the lateral edges of the insulating panel into latching channels which snap over vertically extending resilient latching projections in the posts of the partition system. Several of the unique features of the partition system are the initial low cost of the partition panels as well as the sturdiness of their construction and the ease of assembly and disassembly without sacrifice to the sound barrier and appearance qualities of the system.

With the improved panel and methods of making the same of the present invention, it is possible to rigidify the latching channels at the opposite vertical edges of the panel and at the same time to enable them to be morereadily assembled and disassembled with the post connections and when assembled to provide a more firm partition of uniform high quality. It is also economically important that such uniform high quality be maintained through improved production procedures enabling the panel and thus the partition system to maintain a low initial cost.

It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved partition panel having a firm edge construction which can readily be assembled and disassembled in a partition system.

Another principal object is the provision of such improved panel which will have uniform high quality appearance.

A further important object is the provision of certain methods of manufacture of such improved partition panel which maintain an economic initial low cost.

Yet another object is the provision of a partition panel 3,540,116 Patented Nov. 17, 1970 having rigidly constructed latching channels at the opposite edges thereof which facilitate the assembly and disassembly of the panel in a partition system.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view in section of an improved partition panel in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 through 6 are schematic illustrations of one process embodiment of the present invention for the manufacture of the panel of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7 through 9 are schematic illustrations similar to FIGS. 3 through 5 illustrating one variation in the process embodiment of FIGS. 2 through 6;

FIGS. 10 through 12 are schematic illustrations similar to FIGS. 3 through 5 illustrating still another process variation;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are schematic illustrations similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrating yet another process variation wherein the adhesive application to the panel components is in a single conveyor line;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail of the edge of the panel of FIG. 1 illustrating the cooperation between the panel latching channel and the post vertical clip; and

FIG. 16 is a view similar to FIG. 15 illustrating a modification in the panel channel edge construction.

Referring now to the annexed drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 15, it will be seen that the panel 1 comprises a sheet rock or gypsum board core 2 which may be on the order of thick and a metallic face panel plate 3 and a back panel plate 4. The front panel plate 3 may preferably be of 26 ga. (.0179) while the back panel 4 may preferably be 28 ga. (.0149).

The back panel 4 may be of slightly less initial width than the front panel 3 and the sheet rock or gypsum board core 2 is centered with respect to the lateral edges of the face and back panel plates. As indicated, the slightly thicker back panel plate extends beyond the edge 5 of the sheet rock core 2 and is bent as indicated at 6 to extend normal to the panel to provide a latching channel wall 7. The back panel plate 4 is again rebent as indicated at 8 adjacent the face panel 3 and extends from there to its extreme lateral edge 9 adjacent the face panel 3. Both the face panel 3 and the back panel 4 are bent as indicated at 10 to extend again substantially normal to the panel to form the outer Wall 11 of latching channel 12. The angle indicated by the arrow 13 is actually 89 minus 1 plus 0 so that the point 14 adjacent radius 10 will be the extreme lateral projection of the panel. This contributes to the appearance of the finished partition system in that adjacent panels will contact at the point 14 and gaps between such panels will then be avoided.

The face panel plate 3 extends in the outer channel wall 11 beyond the extreme edge 9' of the back panel 4 and is bent at 16 to extend generally parallel to the back panel plate 4, the angle indicated by the arrow 17 being approximately 91. The extension 18 of the face plate 3 although generally parallel to the back panel plate 4, is offset inwardly from the face of the back panel 4 so that the total depth of the channel wall 11 is less than the total depth or width of the panel 1. The channel wall 11, for example, may have a dimension of .400 plus or minus .005 while the total panel width may be on the order of .408". This slight variation in the dimension of the outside channel wall 11 permits the panels to be stacked on each other without weight being carried by the latching channel construction.

The parallel portion 18 of the face panel plate 3 extends inwardly and restricts the opening of the latching channel 12, such restriction being somewhat less than /2 of the total channel width. The face panel plate 3 is then open folded as indicated at 19 at an angle of approximately 53 as seen by the arrow and extends at such angle through the inclined portion 21 to terminate in slightly bent portion 22 adjacent the edge of the back panel plate 4. The edge of the back panel plate is thus supported or braced between the folded portions of the front panel plate 3 constituting the outside wall 11 of the latching channel 12. In the construction of the panel, as will be described below, adhesive is applied to the inside surface of the back panel 4 beyond the bend 8 so that the contiguous portions of the face and back panel plates beyond such bend to the extreme edge 9 will be adhesively secured together. The open fold construction of the edge of the face panel plate 3 enclosing and in effect pinching the edge of the back panel plate 4 ensures that the panel will remain in its firm interlocked edge channel condition throughout its useful life. This is particularly important in ensuring that the panel will not disintegrate in the event of fire. In any event, the outside wall portion 11 with its three metallic layers at the portion 22 with adhesive between the face and back panel plates provides a rigid latching channel construction.

As seen in FIG. 15, the panel is designed to be latched to a J-shape vertical seen in phantom lines at 24. The straight edge 25 of the vertical is fixed to the post construction and the opposite or free edge 26 provides a degree of resilience at the bent portion 27 separating the cam surfaces 28 and 29. To assemble the panel to the post a force is applied in the direction of the arrow 30 and the open fold 19 will engage the cam surface 28 of the vertical compressing the same until the fold passes the bend 27 and seats against the cam surface 29 with the cam surface extending generally parallel to the inclined portion 21 of the wall 11. In this position, the straight portion of the vertical 25 is forced against the channel wall 7 firmly rigidly connecting the panel and post. To remove the panel, the panel need merely be pried out near the top or bottom and removed by again causing the cam surface 21 of the latching channel and the open fold edge restriction 19 to bear against the cam surface 29 of the vertical until the entire panel is snapped out. It can now be seen that the rigid outer channel Wall construction of the panel will maintain the panel in its proper condition avoiding distortion so that the panel may readily be used again.

In FIG. 16 there is a slight modification of the outer wall of the latching channel wherein the open fold 32 of the face panel plate 3 extends at less angle of inclination back to the side of the channel forming the inclined portion 33 which is then bent as indicated at 34 to extend juxtaposed to the adhesively secured together portions of the front and back panel plates as indicated at 35. The radius of the open fold 32 provides a camming surface for engagement with the vertical and'e more nearly line contact with the vertical than does the embodiment of FIG. 15.

Referring again to FIG. 1 it will be seen that the latching channels 12 at each edge of the panel are allochirally identical in form and both, of course, face toward the rear of the panel so that the only exposed portion of the panel will be that on the front side of the point 14 seen in FIG. 15 and this provides a neat appearing line contact between adjacent panels.

The triangular enclosure of the edge 9 of the back panel plate 4 by the face panel plate 3 provides not only a rigid high strength latching channel construction, but also includes the proper cam latch engaging radius and surfaces exerting the proper forces to maintain the panel edge firmly latched to the post construction.

Referring now to the process for making the panels disclosed in FIGS. 2 through 6, it will be appreciated that the successive views are schematic sections taken through three parallel side-by-side conveyors which may be of the type shown in the aforementioned application of Marvin D. Merritt, Ser. No. 330,015, entitled Apparatus and Method of Manufacture of Building Panels. One conveyor will support those portions of the figures seen at the left in FIGS. 2 through 6, the center conveyor will support those portions at the center and the right-hand conveyor will support those portions at the right as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. Referring first to FIG. 2, the face panel plate 3 is positioned on the left-hand conveyor, the back panel plate 4 is positioned on the center conveyor, and the insulating panel or sheet rock 2 is positioned on the right-hand conveyor. The conveyors, of course, will be moving toward the viewer as seen in such figures.

In moving to the second station as seen in FIG. 3, the back panel plate passes through a roll forming unit to place the opposite bends 6 and 8 in the lateral edges thereof to form what may be termed a hat presenting upstanding coplanar flanges 40 and 41 at opposite sides, such flanges being the portion of the back panel plate 4 between the bends 8 and the extreme lateral edges 9. Simultaneously in the right-hand conveyor adhesive is applied to the top surface of the sheet rock or insulating panel 2 by roller 43.

At the next station as seen in FIG. 4, the insulating panel 2 has been turned over as indicated by the arrow 44 to be positioned with its adhesively coated surface down against the back panel plate 44 between the upstanding flanges 40 and 41. In such next station, the top surface of the insulating panel, formerly the bottom surface as seen in FIG. 3, is now coated with adhesive by roller 45. The sub-assembly of the back panel plate 4 and the insulating panel is, of course, moving toward the viewer in FIG. 4. At the same station, spray heads 46 and 47 apply a coating of adhesive as seen schematically at 48 to the flanges 40 and 41 of the sub-assembly.

As seen in FIG. 5, the adhesive now applied by spraying to the flanges of the back panel plate 4 and by roller coating to the top surface of the insulating panel 2, the face panel plate 3 is now turned over as indicated by the arrow 49 and placed in its centered position on the subassembly of the insulating panel and back panel plate 4. The assembly is now run through compression rolls to assure proper adhesive contact to form a sandwich of the face and back panel plates with the insulating panel therebetween. It is noted that the sandwich at this point contains substantially no exposed adhesive since the projecting underside 50 of the face panel plate 3 has not been coated. After passing through the compression rolls, the sandwich now passes through another roll forming station to form the laterally projecting edges of the face and back panel plates into the latching channels 12 as seen in FIG. 6 and, of course, as seen in more detail in FIGS. 1 and 15.

Due to the nature of the adhesive (wet surface) the roller coating of the opposite surfaces of the sheet rock 2 permits the adhesive solvent to be absorbed into the sheet rock and thus partially dry before the adhesively coated surface is covered. The open time for the adhesively coated surface may be on the order of about 30 seconds, the open time being the lapse between the appli cation of the adhesive and the enclosing of the adhesive by the panel components. The application of the adhesive by spraying through the spray fixtures 46 and 47 to the flanges 40 and 41 at least partially dries the adhesive during the spray so that the adhesive will be in its proper tacky condition when the face panel 3 is applied against,

the adhesively coated flanges. This tends to prevent the extrusion of the adhesive during the passage of the component subassembly seen in FIG. through the compression rolls and through the roll forming stand which places the latching channels 12 in the lateral edges.

In an alternative process, seen in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, adhesive may be applied to the insulating panel 2 by the roller 43 just as in FIG. 3 and simultaneously the bends 6 and 8 will be placed in the back panel plate 4 to form the flanges 40 and 41. In the next step, the insulating panel 2 is turned over as indicated by the arrow 52 to be placed on the back panel plate 4 with the adhesive coating thereon down. At the same time, roller 53 applies an adhesive coating to the top surface of the face panel plate 3 in the left-hand conveyor. Also at the same time, spray heads 54 and 55 spray the flanges 40 and 41 with adhesive. It is noted that the roller 53 coats only the center of the face panel 3 leaving the lateral edge portions indicated at 56 and 57 free of adhesive. These correspond to the projecting portions 50 of the face panel 3 seen in FIG. 5. Now as indicated in FIG. 9, the face panel 3 is turned over to be placed on the subassembly of the flanged back panel plate 4 and the insulating panel 2 as indicated by the arrow 58. Again, the projecting undersurface of the face panel 3 is not adhesively coated as seen at 57 and 56. The assembly of FIG. 9 is then run through compression roll to ensure proper adhesive bond and finally through the roll forming station to form in the lateral edges the latching channels 12 as seen in FIG. 6.

In this embodiment of the process, the roller 53 will be at a position in the left-hand conveyor to afford substantial open time for the adhesive placed upon the inside of the face panel plate 3, permitting the adhesive to predry prior to closing. The roller 53 may actually even be positioned in the FIG. 7 step to apply the adhesive at substantially the same time as the roller 43 applies the adhesive to the insulating panel 2.

In FIGS. through 12, there is illustrated another process embodiment wherein roller 59 is employed to apply an adhesive coating to the depressed center portion of the back panel plate 4, such plate already having been performed by the roll forming of the lateral edges to produce the bends 6 and 8 and thus the flanges 40 and 41. At the same time, adhesive is applied to the flanges by the spray heads 60 and 61. The insulating panel 2 is not applied with adhesive, but is then simply turned over onto the adhesively coated surface of the back panel 4 as indicated by the arrow 62. At about the same time, roller 63 is applying adhesive to the face panel plate 3 leaving the lateral edges as indicated at 56 and 57 free of adhesive. The face panel is then turned over as shown schematically by the arrow 64 to be placed upon the flanges of the back panel 4 with the insulating panel 2 therebetween. The assembly is then run through compression rolls to ensure adhesive bonding and finally the lateral edges are roll formed to place in the panel the latching channels 12.

In FIGS. 13 and 14, there is illustrated another variation of the process wherein all of the adhesive application is in the center conveyor line. As seen in FIG. 13, roller 65 applies adhesive to the depressed center portion of the back panel plate 4 and after the insulating panel 2 has been turned over as seen by the arrow 66 in FIG. 14 it can be placed upon the coated surface of the back panel 4. Adhesive is then applied to the top surface of the insulating panel 2 by roller 67 and to the flanges 40 and 41 by spray heads 68 and 69. The face panel plate 3 is then positioned on top of the sub-assembly and the panel then passes through squeeze rolls to ensure proper adhesive contact and through the roll forming station to produce the latching edge channel configuration.

It will, of course, be understood that the application of the adhesive may be by roller coating or extruding adhesive instead of spraying adhesive on the narrow flange, and by applying adhesive to both contacting panel plate and insulating core surfaces as disclosed in the aforementioned Merritt application. The adhesive between the core and face and back panels may also be applied by extrusion.

A variety of adhesives may be utilized for bonding purposes, but it is preferred to employ rubber contact type of adhesive with good metal adhesion, tack, strength, and resilience properties. Although a neoprene type of adhesive is preferred, other types such as reclaimed rubber, butadiene-styrene, butyl polybutylene, buna-N or Thiokol may be used.

It is now seen that there is produced economically, by a combination of roll and spray adhesive coating and by the partial roll forming of one of the panel plates prior to the adhesive coating with the finish roll forming following adhesive coating, a precision interior partition panel component which can readily be assembled and disassembled with a partition system. The process disclosed ensures uniform high quality of the panel product.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

We, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as our invention:

1. A process for making building panels which include an insulating core and metallic face and back panels comprising the steps of moving the back panel, face panel and insulating core along three parallel conveyors with the back panel in the center, roll forming the edges of such back panel to provide upstanding co-planar lateral flanges, said face panel being flat, applying an adhesive coating to one of either the upper side of said insulating core or the upper side of said back panel, exclusive of the flanges with respect to the latter, turning the insulating core over and placing it in such back panel wth said adhesive coating between the core and back panel, applying an adhesive coating to one of either the now upper side of the turned over insulating core or the upper side of the face panel, also applying adhesive to said back panel flanges, turning over the face panel on such flanges and such core with an adhesive coating between the core and face panel, and an adhesive coating between such flanges and face panel, the lateral edges of such face panel being substantially free of adhesive, and then roll forming together the lateral edges of such face panel and back panel flanges to form latching channels at each side of such panel.

2. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between such flanges and face panel is accomplished by air spraying such flanges.

3. A process as set forth in claim 2 wherein such adhesive is roll applied first to the back panel on the center conveyor line prior to turning the insulating core over and placing it into the back panel, and then adhesive is roll applied to the face panel, the air spraying of such flanges occurring prior to the turning the insulating core over and placing it in such back panel and substantially simultaneous with application of adhesive to the back panel and at the same station therewith.

4. A process as set forth in claim 2 wherein such adhesive is roll applied to both sides of the insulating core in successive stations before and after turning the core over and placing it into the back panel, the air spraying of such flanges occurring after such insulating core has been turned over and placed in such back panel and substantially simultaneous with the second application of adhesive to the core and at the same station therewith.

5. A process for making building panels as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between the core and back panel and the core and face panel is provided by roller coating.

6. A process as set forth in claim 5 wherein the roller coating of the adhesive between such face panel and such core is provided in the face panel conveyor line against such face panel prior to the latter being turned over and placed on such core.

7. A process as set forth in claim 6 wherein the roller coating of such face panel omits coating the lateral edges thereof.

8. A process as set forth in claim 2 wherein the adhesive coating between such back panel and such core is provided by roller coating such back panel in the center conveyor line prior to the turning over of the core thereon, subsequently roller coating said core at a successive station in the center conveyor line, the air spraying of such flanges occurring substantially simultaneous with the roller coating of the core and at the same station therewith.

9. A process as set forth in claim 2 wherein the adhesive coating between the core and back panel is provided by adhesively coating the core prior to turning the same over onto the back panel and the adhesive coating between the core and face panel is provided by roller coating the face panel prior to turning over the latter onto the core, said roller coating of the face panel occurring substantially simultaneous with adhesively coating the core.

10. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the final roll forming of the lateral edges of the face panel and the back panel flanges includes the step of placing an open fold re-entrant edge on the outside wall of such channels partially to restrict the openings thereof.

11. A process as set forth in claim 10 wherein the roll forming of such open fold edge includes the step of clinching the extreme edge of such back panel.

12. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between such flanges and face panel is obtained by extrusion of adhesive therebetween.

13. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between such flanges and face panel is obtained by roller coating.

14. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between such core and the face and back panels is obtained by extrusion of such adhesive coating.

15. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coating between such core and the face and back panels is obtained by spraying of such adhesive coating.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,632 5/1900 Parker 52-619X 2,219,805 10/1940 Buttress 29-200x 2,576,698 11/1951 Russum 29-509X 2,752,672 7/1956 Tolman.

3,003,902 10/1961 McDuif 29 455X 3,139,369 6/1964 Sullivan etal. 15679X 3,344,503 10/1967 Merritt 29 430 CHARLES T. MOON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. XJR. 

